So who's better? American Musical or Zzounds?

EagleMoon · #1 11-25-2008, 04:35 PM

I'm thinking of ordering a bass from one of these places but I've never ordered from either of them before. Anybody have any bad luck with either of them?

bongomania · #2 11-25-2008, 04:35 PM

IIRC they are owned by the same parent company.

EagleMoon · #3 11-25-2008, 04:39 PM

Oh really? I knew GC and Musicians Friend were owned by the same people, but not these guys.

EricF · #4 11-25-2008, 04:45 PM

I have always been under the impression that Zzounds and Same Day Music were owned by the same company. I could be wrong.

I've always had good luck with Zz and SDM shipments. I won't order from MF if I have ANY other choice.

bongomania · #5 11-25-2008, 06:51 PM

Yeah, SDM is another brand of the same parent co. Now that said, I've bought from Zzounds several times and been completely happy with the transaction each time, so by commenting on the ownership I'm not saying you shouldn't order from them- only that you're probably buying from the same company whichever site you order through.

EagleMoon · #6 11-25-2008, 06:58 PM

So Same Day Music, Zzounds and American Musical are ALL owned by the same people?

Tony G · #7 11-25-2008, 07:10 PM

Music123.com is also under the same ownership as Guitar Center and Musicians friend.

bassrique · #8 11-25-2008, 07:27 PM

My head hurts.

Would someone create the definitive list of what .com companies are owned by whom?

keb · #9 11-25-2008, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EagleMoon

So Same Day Music, Zzounds and American Musical are ALL owned by the same people?

Yep. And to add a little more into the mix, this same parent company used to run a brick and mortar store called Victor's House of Music... which was bought out by... Guitar Center.

At any rate, I've been buying stuff from American Musical since 1992 or so... they've never let me down.

Jeff K · #10 11-25-2008, 10:33 PM

I don't know who's affiliated with who, but I HAVE bought several basses from AMS over the years. I think I bought one from zzounds. I've never had a problem with any of them.

In the mid-90's, I bought a Stingray from Veneman's Music in Rockville, MD. (I don't know if they're still in business or not.) The bass was fine, but the case was banged up a bit from the neanderthal package handlers. I called Veneman's, and they immediately shipped me a new case, no hassle at all. So all in all, I've had very good luck with a number of places who have shipped basses to me.

brianrost · #11 11-26-2008, 08:05 AM

I buy from AMS all the time. Two reasons mainly:

1. Purchases over $300 can be financed interest free over multiple months without having to use a store credit card. They are the only online vendor I know that offers this and I have made use of it more than once.

2. I happen to be close enough to NJ that the free UPS ground shipping usually arrives the next day.

The one time I returned something it was hassle-free.

As far as ZZounds, their website has crashed my browser so many times I finally gave up even looking there.